10 Signs You are the Bottleneck to Your Growth

The other day I met with a client for an all day strategic planning session. I always love these opportunities to really uncover where the growth opportunities are for my clients. The interesting thing is, when I spend a whole day with a client their real obstacles somehow rise to the surface in random conversation.

And that is what happened with this particular session. For privacy reasons, I'll call this client Carl. Carl has a very successful placement firm but for some reason, the growth has been stagnating lately. When I looked at all the key indicators, what I revealed to my client was (and I think he already knew this) that he is the bottleneck to the growth.

He holds on tightly to making all the decisions, doesn't take the time to properly train new team members and holds back on key initiatives because he's afraid to invest in additional resources. When I pointed this out it was like someone took the blinders off and he could see for the first time how to turn his company around.

This isn't the first time I've found bottlenecks for a client. As a matter of fact, I've personally experienced most of them too. The important thing right now in our industry is that YOU find yours. Your business can grow exponentially in any economy when you have all the pipelines flowing openly.

In this edition, I'll cover 5 of the bottlenecks with the remaining 5 in the next edition.

#1. Limiting Beliefs

This is probably one of the biggest bottlenecks the entrepreneur has. Not knowing what's possible for many of us means we can't believe it's possible. For instance, if you don't know that its' possible to be wealthy AND make a difference, you'll probably think you can't have both and hold yourself back. If you've never experienced the power of having great team members take complete ownership of a task and get it done properly, you'll rely on your own experiences and think...why should I delegate?

This is probably one of the biggest reasons to work with a trained business or leadership coach. They can see what's possible FOR you and guide you to create more effective growth strategies. Overcoming your limited vision will open up the flow of abundance and growth.

#2. Being The Only One

The reason why some business owners seem to thrive and others struggle lies within their ability to get their critical tasks done quickly - without them. If you are the only one who can do the marketing, create the website, write the sales materials, etc., then you are holding your growth hostage.

In the webinar I teach called, "Getting Your Money Making Tasks Done in ½ the Time," I address this issue. Discovering how profitable it is to get these key tasks done profitably in a way that you never even have to think about is essential to rapid expansion.

#3. Fast Growth Without Proper Support

Investing in marketing strategies that generate an onslaught of new leads and clients is every business owners dream. But what do you do when you have so many leads you can't keep up and they go untouched? What happens when you have hundreds of new clients starting a program but no systems or support? Breakdowns, lost money, unhappy clients and a bad reputation that is difficult to clean up.

This bottleneck is a difficult one to understand until you are in the pain of the problem. But let me tell you that balancing your marketing investment with proper team building and support is the key. You run a business - not a hobby. Ensuring that you have the proper support to sustain the growth is not only important but vital to making all that hard marketing effort pay off.

#4. Too Many Ideas

When you have tons of ideas you tend to think that everyone around you should be able to keep up with your ever growing vision. I've got news for you. It isn't going to happen. As a matter of fact, it's one of the most damaging bottlenecks. When you continually spew new ideas but don't have the team or resource bandwidth to complete them, everything moves into a tornado-type energy. The people you delegate to get confused. What priority should I really be focused on? Things slow down even though you desperately need everyone to speed up!

Developing the habit to "filter" your ideas into what is really a viable opportunity vs. what is just a "bright, shiny object" is the key to overcoming this bottleneck.

#5. Not Willing To Invest

I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have a child and not anticipate investing in braces, toys, good food, clothing and eventually college. So why would you birth a business and not invest in the right resources to grow properly? When you can't get any more done with what you have today, you must be willing to invest in additional resources - technology to automate or team members to complete the tasks.

When I notice clients are holding back from investing in their growth, I realize they are hyper-focused on the short-term cash flow and the expense of long term growth. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google noted in an interview with Larry King that the reason they continue to be successful is because he keeps his eye on where they are going and makes decisions today to get there in the future.

Hiring the proper team is one way to invest in today to get where you want to be in the future. Holding back will just keep you small.

#6. Independence Over Results

Do you hate the idea of having regular meetings? Shun communication to your team because it's "your company" and you can do what you want? Many of us pursue independence at the expense of achieving meaningful results. We do what we want - whether it works or not.

For instance, changing the entire business strategy without communication to the team was the big mistake made by a major internet-based company earlier this year. The leaders worked in a vacuum to solve the problem...but lost may of their "A" players because they didn't know where things were going.

Focus on establishing your freedom vs. independence. Freedom -working however much time you desire - is sustainable. Independence is not. Establish the systems and support team to experience real freedom.

#7. Habit of Learning First

Greg believes he has to learn everything about the shopping cart before he can hire someone and trust they will do it well. When I broke down the money and time investment to actually learn how to run the shopping cart, plus the training classes, and what he WASN'T getting done by focusing on this task, Greg finally got it.

When you mistakenly believe you must learn how to do something before you hand it off, you are thinking like the technician, not the leader. And a technician has a J.O.B.

Hiring someone whose job it is to manage the shopping cart, or any other task that isn't high payoff for you, is the smartest investment you will make in your company this year. That's why we teach the Virtual Team Building Telebootcamp - so you can develop strong habits of delegating the right tasks to the right people so you stay focused on your highest payoff activities.

Break your addiction to learning everything yourself first by developing the habit of focusing on your big picture strategy. You just need to know enough to see the direction to go. The rest can be handled by capable team members who handle the technical implementation of the vision.

#8. Decision Dilemma.

If you have begun to delegate already, this scenario may seem familiar. You have a day planned to focus on a big presentation you are preparing for when half way through the day you realize all  you have done is handle questions from your team regarding tasks they have been assigned. When you look deeper into where your time went, you realize - all you did was make decisions they could have made!

Or maybe you notice that your admin assistant still hasn't finished up that mailing project you assigned 2 weeks ago. When you ask the status of it your assistant reminds you she asked for a decision on which mailing house to use 10 days prior. Oops. You got busy and forgot.

Sometimes you have to delegate enough authority so that you don't become the bottleneck to getting things done. After team members have proven they understand their role, consider giving them spending approval between $100 - $1000 dollars, depending on their role and responsibilities. Give clear criteria for making the decision and always require an expenditure status update to yourself and the bookkeeper.

#9. Breakdown Rescue.

What happens when someone makes a mistake? Do you rush in to fix it? Or do you ask them for a recommendation on what they should do next? Or maybe you are unattainable and your team member has to figure it out on their own.

How you deal with breakdowns can either become the bottleneck or the breakthrough. You've probably heard the Chinese Proverb, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

When you step in to solve the problem FOR someone else on your team, you are setting yourself up to be the bottleneck. Coach and mentor your team on HOW you would solve the problem one or two times. Have the take notes and create a written policy. Now let them take ownership of the task or role.

#10. The Main Show

You are the only one that can make things happen. At a certain level of growth, this will stifle your ability to generate higher levels of income and impact more potential clients. If you are a consultant, coach or service provider that has to provide face time in order to generate income, then you are trapped at how much YOU can work.

Growth opportunities will include one of three main strategies: charge more (which isn't always going to work these days), train others to deliver your service or package your concepts to be delivered through self-study programs or group experiences.

Today, take 15 minutes to assess what areas you may be the bottleneck in your growth. Then create an action plan to eliminate those issues. The action plan may be a mindset shift that takes one minute or a 12 month team ramp up plan. Either way, getting started today will put you on the path for achieving your goals.

Need help identifying your bottlenecks? Having someone else put the spotlight on your business can provide massive breakthroughs. Enlist the help of a coach to uncover where you may be getting in your own way.